Google Mapplets are mini-applications that you can embed within the Google Maps site. Examples include real estate search, current weather conditions, and distance measurement. Mapplets are Google Gadgets that can manipulate the map using Javascript calls that are derived from the Google Maps API
On June 12th Apple announced the release of Safari for Windows, in 2 days it had 1 million downloads. But why was it released at all. Allegedly Safari have near 5% of the browser market, not bad considering to date it only runs on a mac. So it could be they viewed the success of Firefox and thought there was room in the market. However, they could have done this before and if you take a look at browsers statistics by w3schools you find the figure is much lower than stated. With a little more investigation you find that the IPhone (to be released end June) will have developer access using Safari. Now perhaps a release makes more sense, as most developers are on the windows platform and the IPhone will need these to gain momentum after its initial launch. Whatever the reason, it is worth downloading to see if it suits your needs.
Mind 42 have just released a free on-line mind mapping tool, The sign-up is fast and you’ll be mapping in no-time. It’s easy to use, offering some basic functions, but more are on the way. A great feature is the ability to collaborate by sharing your maps, coupled with other tools like basecamp (for project management) and you can have great control and communication around your project, especially if it’s open source and the team is at disparate locations. collaboration.
Microsoft have released a patch that fixes a number of issues around the performance of Outlook 2007.
Microsoft indicated that the problem stemmed from RSS feeds, email, and calendar files all being stored in the same .PSD file which as one might imagine could grow in size rather quickly depending on the user.
I loaded the patch and the performance increase is noticeable. Outlook 2007 does have an update facility, but it is unclear if this will be included, as it is not a security fix, also many people have the facility turned off. So i recommend you get the patch here.
Sony has developed a razor-thin display that bends like paper while showing full-color video. Sony says it has yet to decide on how to commercialize new products using the technology, but a future use may be targeted product package advertising.
Couple the flat and bendable screen with RFID and you have an aware marketing device. Of course prices to produce the screen will have to drop negligible levels, but packaging that can change dependent on the profile of the person walking past it will be sure to set marketeers thinking. Think about it for just a moment, you’ll think of a multitude of uses. Maybe you like to see the fat content of food more prominent than other details. Take it to the next stage and it may not just be the information changing, you could even find you wifes, children’s or even your mothers face looking back at you beckoning you to purchase the product. Linked it in with financial data and you could program your needs, prior to setting out for the shop and just look out for the neon highlighted item on the shelves. Once home the packages could be aware of each other and indicate to you a selection combination will make a tasty meal and even provide the recipe to create it. The combination of awareness and ability to change provide near limitless ideas for uses it will be interesting to see what happens when production costs reach a level to allow these type of ideas to be tried out.
I am looking to purchase a new machine for home and have been investigating Vista vs OS X. I already have a MacBook at work running XP in parallels. It did not take long to find the following article http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/15/vistas_long_goodbye_continues/ which tells of a major issue with Vista hanging the users machine when attempting to delete. So i think an IMac with parallels and XP may be the best option.
I have had this book for many years and often use it for referance, but over the last week i read it from cover to cover (again). It really is a great book, with good insight for software professional. The posts printed within are mainly from 2000-2002, but none the less the messages and thoughts still hold true. Although he does amusingly get a few predictions wrong. If your into software this is a must have book. Also don’t forget to visit Joel on Software
Yahoo Pipes enables users to aggregate existing data to create and share a data feed using a visual drag and drop interface. Its a great idea and when you’ve used it you may wonder why nobody has done it before.In fact they have, but just not on the web and in such a visual and open way. The idea of Pipes comes from Unix pipes (|) which let you take the output of one small program and use it as the input to another. There have also been a number of enterprise products, such as BEA Liquid Data, which are much more heavy weight, but embody the same principles.
However, now Yahoo, who are not renowned for developing the own products (you would have expected this from Google) has brought out Pipes, providing everyone the opportunity to make pipelines to merge, sort and mashup data already on the web. Keep an eye out for useful pipelines there are already ones in place replace the results with Flickr images that match the content and keep track of eBay items. Take a look at the most frequently run pipes page.
My team have just launched site to enable pre-ordering of the new Mazda CX-7 . Its written in .Net 2.0 and integrated into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
to paraphrase former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who wrote that he couldn’t describe pornography but knew it when he saw it, it may not be possible to fully describe Web 2.0, but you will know it when you see it.
see Web 2.0 and New Approaches to Software for full article.
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